As every geek knows, One Laptop Per Child laptop sales plan "Give One Get One" starts on November 12th. We'll have two weeks to order an XO-1 laptop and be the first kids (at heart) on the block to have an OLPC Christmas.
But we've also heard that G1G1 will sell out fast as we'll be competing with OLPC Uruguay's laptop order for the first computers. In addition, with possible production delays limiting the pre-Christmas run to 100,000 or less, we have this advice from OLPC itself:
[Mary Lou] Jepsen said some laptop customers in the United States and Canada would be able to get their PCs before the holidays, but they would be shipped on a first-come, first-served basis.Which brings me to a very pertinent question: when exactly does Give 1 Get 1 start? We all know its November 12th, but does that mean:"Order early," she said.
- Midnight, November 12th, International Date Line?
- Midnight, November 12th, Greenwich Mean Time?
- Midnight, November 12th, Eastern Standard Time?
- Or 9:00 AM, November 12th, Eastern Standard Time?
So One Laptop Per Child leadership, when exactly does Give One, Get One begin? You really do not want an inadvertent DOS attack on Monday morning as thousands of geeks hit "refresh" every few seconds in mad, foaming tech-lust for your clock-stopping hot technology.
I'm hoping the reminder email I signed up for at G1G1 will tell me when/how I can buy.
Yes!!! This is now the most important question, and it hasn't been addressed. It's like waiting to hear when Bruce tix will go on sale...knowing they'll be almost impossible to get even with all the right info. Argggg! I really need one of these! It's both expensive and maddening for an old person to have to keep getting stuff fixed because I did something wrong by accident, and don't even understand what!
Old people should get to cut in line. j/k
Born Too Soon
As cool as the G1G1 offer is, I won't be buying unless a lot more info about the device is crystallized and published by November 12. Most of the info on the website and their wiki is sparse and/or out of date.
1. Despite the cool hardware, I'm very concerned about reports that the device is slow and severely constrained by memory. Has the speed improved? Does adding an SD card boost performance? What apps are known to work or not work on the XO?
2. For browsing many web pages, Java and Flash are essential. The OLPC wiki reports many problems getting these to work on the XO. Will this be resolved by the final release?
3. How well does OpenOffice work on the XO?
4. How about mp3 support? I've heard varying things about this one.
5. How about other important Linux apps, such as gimp, skype, desktop publishing, etc. Which will work well? (The list of preloaded Zonbu apps and/or Asus EEE apps is a good place to look for the kinds of apps users might be interested in).
6. A while back, there was a rumor that google would be providing online storage for xo users. Is this real or not?
7. Does the XO have any degree of 3d graphics capability?
8. According to their wiki, printing has not been extensively tested, since most people in developing countries don't have access to a printer. But honestly, I don't want to buy a computer that can't print. Has any more work been done on this front since now these devices are being sold in the U.S.?
In a nutshell, now that we're getting close to putting our money on the line, I want to know more about what this machine can and can't do. I want to know whether the machine "plays nicely" with other U.S. computing devices and formats (such as printers, mp3s), and understand the degree to which the XO can be pushed beyond the handful of built-in apps for elementary school kids (since my kids may need more sophisticated apps).
I wrote an email to ask this question with no response so I think it should appear in the reminder letter.
Reminder e-mail just arrived for me, with the start time as 6 AM EST on Nov. 12th
"old people" and self proclaimed geeks shouldn't be in line at all!!! What part of One Laptop Per CHILD didn't you understand. Get a life and let the kids have their Christmas gifts.
Why shouldn't "old people" be included in this?
Some "old people" are kids at heart! I thought this computer might be the perfect device to experiment with my older generation mom because her later years experiences with PC's at work scarred her and she won't let me buy her a nice Mac laptop yet. Her needs are simple, she's not going to be producing any Final Cut Pro movies in the months following the OLPC 'puter's arrival and then I can take it with me to Honduras and leave it with a school started by friends. But who says that older people in the countries receiving these won't be equally fascinated.
I just want to know how these will be recharged in a third-world nation and whether there is a solar option.